They were just passengers aboard an airplane, flying over California and having a chat.
The couple was relating their adventures in hunting to the pair of fliers in the row ahead of them. Things apparently got cozy, and they confided that they had hunted a mountain lion. In fact, they said, a close relative was a big fan of wild animals that had been stuffed and mounted — they had mountain lions, a wolverine and wolves in a “trophy room.”
Not only that, the couple had a trophy of their own, the skull of a green sea turtle, and it was with them aboard that very plane.
The passengers in the row ahead were sure to have listened with avid interest. They were officers with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
As the CDFW related the tale, the pair were dressed in plain clothes and flying to Northern California after attending a training session in San Diego.
When the plane landed, the hunters were asked by their their traveling companions if they could get a peek at that sea turtle skull.
According to wildlife officials, the couple “acknowledged the potential unlawful possession.” Then they waited till the coast was clear — making sure no TSA agents were around.
They pulled out the skull that authorities said they had secreted inside a jacket in their carry-on luggage.
Those bones belonged to a federally listed endangered species that is illegal to possess and transport.
After the wildlife officers got back to their stomping grounds, they wrote up search warrants — one for the couple’s Chico home and another for the family member in Napa County with the fondness for taxidermy.
At the Chico residence, the CDFW says mountain lion claws, a ringtail cat and a mounted barn owl were among the finds.
Mountain lions, ringtail cats and wolverines are protected species in California, as the agency notes, and permits are required for mounted raptors.
At the Napa County home, full-body taxidermied mountain lions and a wolverine were discovered, the agency said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service assisted in search warrants, investigation and prosecution of Byron Lee Fitzpatrick, 24, Shannon Lee Price, 28, and Harry Vern Fitzpatrick, 64.
All three pleaded guilty to violating fish and game codes, were assessed fines of $1,865, $1,015 and $605, respectively, and placed on probation. The younger pair were prohibited from hunting for a year.
“Like human and narcotics trafficking,” the CDFW noted in a news release stressing the seriousness of the incident, “wildlife trafficking of both live animals and animal parts is known to fund transnational criminal organizations and their violent activities all over the world.”
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